Miami federal judge blocks new Florida anti-Cuba law

A Miami federal judge on Monday blocked Florida from enforcing a new state law that prohibits governments from hiring companies with business ties to Cuba.

A temporary injunction, ordered by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, prevents the law from taking effect on Sunday as scheduled. And it deals a blow to the politicians who backed the legislation, which was sponsored by Miami-Dade lawmakers, approved by a near-unanimous majority of the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

After an hour-long hearing late Monday, Moore ruled from the bench in favor of Odebrecht Construction, the Coral Gables-based subsidiary of a Brazilian engineering and construction giant.

“It’s not as if there isn’t some precedent there and there hasn’t been a run at this effort in the past,” the judge said, referring to previous failed legislative efforts to make it difficult to conduct business with Cuba.

Odebrecht USA sued the Florida Department of Transportation earlier this month over the new law, which would ban state and local government agencies from awarding future contracts worth at least $1 million to U.S. firms whose foreign-owned parent companies or affiliates conduct business in Cuba or Syria. A subsidiary of Odebrecht USA’s parent company is expanding the Cuban Port of Mariel. Full story here.

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So if this company or another international conglomerate was building death camps for oppressive regimes in China, North Korea, Burma, Venezuela, Cuba, or somewhere else ....

this federal judge would tell Florida taxpayers that our money would have to be available for the company to win in bids for work done here ... as long as the Congress and/or President had remained silent on the issue?

What utter nonsense!

To accept this judge's view would be to accept that it would be ok if the federal government decided that a certain minimum percentage of Floridians money must be contracted with international corporations or foreign corporations.

When did the nation's foreign policy extend to telling state taxpayers who the may or must do business with?